Unpaid contractors protest

About 3,000 workers and employers have petitioned the governor of Chon Buri after a group of Thai Oil refinery contractors failed to pay 24 subcontractors for six months, leaving them unable to pay 20,000 labourers.
These demonstrators representing the 24 subcontracting companies involved in the Clean Fuel Project (CFP), owned by Thai Oil Public (TOP) Co Ltd, at the TOP refinery in Chon Buri’s Sri Racha district gathered near Bunjit Wittaya School in Sri Racha yesterday morning to march towards the CFP’s office to submit their petition.
Chon Buri governor Thawatchai Srithong ordered his deputy Chaiyaporn Paepiromrat to meet with the group to receive the petition at their meeting point near the school.
The letter addresses the governor and CFP executives, calling for urgent intervention and clarity in the negotiation process with the main contractor.
According to the letter, the subcontractors completed their work as per contractual obligations in February, but payments of billions of baht have not been made.
This situation has severely affected the financial liquidity of more than 100 subcontracting firms, some of which are continuing operations without being paid to avoid legal action against themselves, the letter states.
Meanwhile, Thai Oil clarified that it has fulfilled its payment obligations to the main contractor UJV-Samsung, Petrofac, and Saipem, which is a joint venture of Samsung E&A (Thailand) Co Ltd, Petrofac South East Asia Pte Ltd and Saipem Singapore Pte Ltd.
The company said it is not responsible for the delayed payments to subcontractors, which fall under the responsibility of the joint venture.
Thai Oil said it has been in constant communication with UJV to address the issue and provide relief to the affected subcontractors.
The subcontractors urged the government to find better solutions.